Santi Cazorla has lifted the lid on the frustrations within the Arsenal camp and admitted Arsene Wenger’s side have lost the ability to control games.

Frustrated: Arsenal’s Santi Cazorla (Picture: PA)

The Spaniard, who arrived in the summer from Malaga for £16million, has been one of the few shining lights to arise from the Gunners worst start to a season during Wenger’s reign.

But even Cazorla’s performances have suffered in what has been a torrid run of form for Arsenal, which has seen them take just five points from six games, and the midfield schemer admits his side are lacking that killer instinct of their title rivals.

‘We don’t know exactly what the problem is,’ says Cazorla.

‘It’s true that we’re inconsistent. I believe that to challenge for the Premier League, those games can’t get away from us. Take the Fulham game, we were 2-0 up. You can’t then be drawing within five minutes. Those points aren’t coming back.

‘And the other day against Aston Villa, there’s a game which I believe we really had the desire to win, because these are points that we can’t let get away. Then you see City, United winning on those days. That’s the difference. To fight for the title, it’s about taking points from those teams.

‘It’s a little bit frustrating. We’re a good team, good players, training well. But there are moments in those games when we don’t know how to control them. There’s a significant gap between us and United and City. They’ve got away a bit. We have very little margin for error.’